Monday, November 1, 2010

American Girl is Queen - 1910

"New York, Aug. 18 - 'If Venus de Milo should appear on earth today, she couldn't hold a candle to our American girls!'"

"So exclaimed George Clinton Batcheller, corset maker, after studying professionally and innocently, the forms of foreign women in his annual tour."

"'The American girl is tall, and yet not too tall; slender, and yet well-developed. She has beautifully sloping shoulders and a long waist. She has hips, though she is trying to conceal them at present. She has beautifully long, exquisitely modeled arms. Her feet are slender, if not tiny.'"

"'Her features are regular and clear cut. She has a round, yet strong chin. Her profile is exquisite.'"

"'American women have more style than French women, because the American woman will adopt the prevailing mode to suit her individuality.'"

"'Our girls with black hair and blue eyes, or red hair and brown eyes, form a welcome change from the invariable blonde which one sees in Germany, or the invariable brunet which one sees in France. But the individuality of American women is more than that. It is the expression of individual thought and feeling. Of course this is due to the fact that women here are much freer than abroad, and in general so much better educated. They have a chance to develop personalities, instead of merely reflecting traditions. This in itself makes them more beautiful, just as an original painting is always greater art than the most inspired copy. The excellent general athletic training received by most of our young women has developed their bodies to the present stage of perfection.'"